My son was trying to help yesterday with the 68 Camaro we're working on and thought he'd go ahead and adjust the passenger door. He didn't know you have to remove the striker to line it up properly and adjusted the hinges, it wouldn't just fall into place so I'm guessing he muscled it into place on the latch. He wasn't home last night to apply a little muscle from inside (the only release available is the one the outside handle pushes). Any ideas of how to get the blamed thing open? I'm thinking since he'll be home tonight, have him push from the inside as I push the latch release. The other option I can think of is take a pair of vise Grips to the threaded end of the striker from inside the quarter and loosen it a little.

On some Ford products they adjusted the doors in the factory before the interior trim panels were installed. There was access thru the inside. I saw a college weight lifter Champ that was working there part time grab a stuck door and it ripped the metal panel the striker bolts to.

On some Ford products they adjusted the doors in the factory before the interior trip panels were installed. There was access thru the inside. I saw a college weight lifter Champ that was working there part time grab a stuck door and it ripped the metal panel the striker bolts to.

I'm thinking it's just jammed and when you push good on the inside it will pop open. Those cars did have a problem with a spring breaking on the latch that stopped it from unlatching too. Hopefully that isn't the problem.

Thanks Brian. I know it opened and closed real nice the night before but the boy thought he'd help me get to relax a bit last night by adjusting the door for me while I was at my day job. He just doesn't know to remove the striker first, well he didn't know that. I bet he remembers it from now on. The door was about 1/8" back from the front seam on the rocker and it needed to be moved forward so the door to quarter gap and door to fender gap matched.
This stuff is a constant learning process and he's light years ahead of where I was at his age (22).

Thanks you all. We lucked out, turns out GM planned for just such a problem, they left a hole in the latch that lines right up with the striker. We run an allen wrench through the opening in the latch from inside the door and loosened the striker and got it open. Turns out it does hang up if you close it a fraction too far, I have the latch here at work and am gonna clean it up and try lubricating it and see what happens tonight.

I should have been clear in my first post. Ford used a door hanging fixture that held the door in the correct position to the body and the striker was tightened by reaching inside with the right angle air tool and accessing the striker through the door inner metal panel hole. I don't know who was first to do this Ford or GM.

Welp, I'm trying a new striker on it now.
1)We got the door lined up sans the striker as you're supposed to.
2)Installed the striker loosely.
3) Closed door to second click
4) Tightened striker through aforementioned hole with 5/16" allen wrench socket
E) Used some very colorful language as the door wouldn't budge.
6) Loosened striker through aformentioned hole with same socket.
7) Open door, quite easily I might add.
8) Repeat several times and determined first thing to try is new striker, gonna pick up today. Old one has a couple light grooves in it.
9)If that doesn't work, we'er gonna fall back on Brian's comment about the latch and suggest a new latch. I already cleaned up and lubed the current latch, it seemed to be in perfect working order...on the bench.

It sounds like it maybe getting caught on the edge of the "head" of the striker. If the striker is in or out too much this can happen. They often need "shims" (washers) on those strikers to move them more into to the latch so this doesn't happen.

One trick if you can't see where it is hitting is to get a chunk of dum dum and roll it into a ball and stick it into the latch. Then shut the door so the latch barely touches the striker it will put a dent in the dum dum and you can see if it's a good spot or it needs the striker moved in or out.

Thanks Brian, I'll start with that tonight. now that you mention that, I moved the door forward just a scoche just before the problem began. We moved it forward so the leading edge of the door was even with the front edge of the rocker.

The striker needed to be moved 1/16" and now the door latches and releases perfectly. Brian and Michel, i owe the both of you lots of thanks for all the tips you've shared over the years. The Dum Dum showed me how tight it was and then I shimmed it with fender shims to get the right thickness. Drilled out a fender washer to 7/16" and it fits perfectly.

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